


Liftoff

by templeremus



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Character Study, Drabble, Gen, Historical, Light Angst, Missing Scene, Pre-Slash, Season/Series 11, Space Flight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:07:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23029816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/templeremus/pseuds/templeremus
Summary: Travel hopefully. The Universe will surprise you. So will people. Character study for 13 and Yaz, set any time mid series 11
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Liftoff

There was something about this body that remembered being young. It wasn't just the physical energy, though that in itself was a marvel, still as clear and golden as it had felt the night she fell to Earth. There was a hunger in her now, undaunted by everything that had gone before: a spontaneity and a readiness to be proved wrong that brought new delight to familiar haunts.

She took her companions to watch the launch of Apollo 11 (careful, of course, to avoid a run-in with a previous self), handing out sunglasses as each person left the console room. There were many ways to revisit that day, and places even closer to the action, but this incarnation wanted the view from the ground: to stand in the crucible where the dream of life off-world would take root in the minds of generations. 

Graham was telling Ryan how his parents had let him stay up for the Moon landing - _us and next door's family, Dad had champagne, only time I saw Mum properly ratted_. Yaz was quieter, one hand on Ryan's shoulder as they edged through the crowd. The launch was just moments away before she spoke, sneaking a glance at the Doctor over the rim of her glasses. "But it's good, yeah? I mean, we don't start any giant inter-space wars, or anything?"

_Thousands of them_ , the Doctor almost replied, but checked herself in time. Sometimes history, especially one's own, was best discovered in fragments. Otherwise a person risked being swamped by it, too dazed by the suffering to recognise the beauty until long after both had passed. "Never mind that," she said. "It's here, Yaz. _We're_ here. Are you ready?" 

Around them, a million people began to count.


End file.
